Tension mounts in Middle East after reports of Saudi Arabian citizen's kidnapping in Lebanon
Riyadh/Beirut, Nov 11 (IBNS): Tensions among Riyadh and Beirut is on the rise after the National News Agency (NNA) of Lebanon reported that a citizen belonging to Saudi Arabia was kidnapped from his house in the vicinity of the Keserwan locality of Adma.
The incident took place on Thursday night.
The victim has been identified as 32-year-old Ali al-Bishrawi.
According to the victim's wife, who is a Syrian national, her husband was lured away from their residence on the night of the incident and hasn't returned home since.
Investigations were kicked off after she demanded that she had received ransom calls.
The development comes at a time when Saudi Arabia and Lebanon is on the brink of a war.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE on Thursday also ordered all its citizens to leave Lebanon and order anyone against travelling to the nation.
Lebanon through its dominant political party Hezbollah, is a close ally of Iran.
Hezbollah is a Shi Islamist political party and militant group in Lebanon which was significantly involved in the Syrian war and had deployed thousands of fighters. It was considered a strategic arm of Iran in the region, allegedly playing a key role in the Iran-Israel and Iran-Saudi Arabia proxy conflicts in the middle east.
Saudi Arabia, who's also involved in a verbal battle with Iran, has accused Hezbollah of being Tehran's proxy in Lebanon.
Earlier on Sunday, the political sphere in Gulf witnessed an unprecedented move after Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation during a visit to Riyadh.
Hariri stood in a foreign nation while announcing his resignation, just 11 months after assuming power.
He had stated that his life faces a threat, while announcing his decision.
As Hariri stepped down, he also took pot shots at Iran and said, "Wherever Iran is involved, there is nothing but devastation and chaos."
However, his own country has attacked Saudi Arabia of staging the saga and forcing Hariri to resign.
In a fresh salvo, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that the move was conceived by Saudi Arabia to destabilise Lebanon.
"Let us say things as they are: the man is detained in Saudi Arabia and forbidden until this moment from returning to Lebanon," Nasrallah said in a televised speech.
He added, "It is clear that Saudi Arabia and Saudi officials have declared war on Lebanon and on Hezbollah in Lebanon."
According to experts and political commentators, the main battle between Saudi Arabia and Iran dates back to the age old issue of Shia and Sunni.
While Iran believes in the Shia branch of Islam, which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor, Saudi Arabia, the biggest regime in the Middle East, is a Sunni stronghold.
Hezbollah too is a Shia Islamist political outfit and hence has fallen out of favour with the Kingdom of Saud.
Image:justearthnews.com
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